Government Contracts Monitor

A Relationship Between a Government Employee and a Contractor Employee Leads to a Felony Conviction

July 17, 2013

In a recent federal criminal case, a former GSA Assistant Property Manager pled guilty to false statements and witness tampering in connection with a facilities contract for the Lloyd D. George federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada. In United States v. Underhill, No. 12-CR-00301, the defendant, Steven Underhill, had a relationship with a woman named “L.V.” (undisclosed in court documents due to privacy concerns), who was an employee of Tried and True Corporate Cleaning (“TTC”), the contractor providing janitorial services in the Courthouse. The plea agreement executed by Mr. Underhill states that when L.V. decided to end the relationship with the him, he began giving TTC unsatisfactory ratings, which negatively impacted TTC’s bid to renew its contract for janitorial services.

When Mr. Underhill was interviewed, he said that he “never had a relationship with L.V.,” and denied that he lived with her. In fact, he has been in a relationship with L.V. for approximately two years and lived with L.V. and her mother. Additionally, Mr. Underhill told L.V. to “deny everything” to federal agents, “stick to the story,” and “tell them we weren’t living together.” Mr. Underhill then called and sent 400 text messages to L.V., and according to the plea agreement “the messages included threats of retaliation and public embarrassment if she cooperated with the GSA-OIG’s investigation.”

In the plea agreement, the government indicated that it will seek 5 years of probation for the Mr. Underhill when he is sentenced in September 2013. Although this case deals with a small janitorial contract for a federal building, it is instructive to all contractors providing goods and services to the government. Contractors should routinely train their employees on codes of conduct regarding personal relationships with government employees and provide contractor employees a way to report improper conduct by government personnel. Such an approach will serve to protect both the contractor and its employees.

Brian Stolarz is the attorney responsible for the content of this article.